Best way to back up/archive/save a song file with VSTi's etc

[ControllerC]

I would like to archive some songs so I have a back up in case my computer gets a bug or the harddrive poops out or whatever- so I would like all the audio files etc saved with the song. Some tracks are midi files being played back by virtual instruments- so as long as I have the VSTi re installed with Reaper in the proper folder on whatever pc I try to open the archived song file on then Im good with just the midi files right? I dont have to burn them to audio do I? Actually I would probably ideally do one archive with all VSTis burned to audio then another archive of the same song with just the midi files (in case I want to try different soundsets within virtual sample player instruments like Sampletank for example) and any tracks that were audio to begin with- can I do this in Reaper? Are all the audio files in the project automatically saved in a Reaper song file? (.RPP)

[xpander]

Originally Posted by ControllerC

Are all the audio files in the project automatically saved in a Reaper song file? (.RPP)

The Reaper project file (.RPP) contains all the project related information but not the actual audio files. Instead, it stores the paths of where the audio files were at the time of saving the project. When loading up the project, Reaper then looks for those files from the paths saved into the RPP file.

MIDI files are an exception to this. By default Reaper imports the MIDI files and creates new ones as in-project MIDI items. These are saved into the RPP file itself. This can be changed in Preferences/Media/MIDI if working with separate .MID files is preferred.

As for archiving songs, it's probably most clear approach to save each project into its own folder and have all the project related media inside that. Archives/backups could then be just copies of these project folders.

Save Preferences & Auto Save by Kenny Gioia
http://www.reaper.fm/videos.php#3DJngUQ7MUEEg

[ControllerC]

Originally Posted by xpander

The Reaper project file (.RPP) contains all the project related information but not the actual audio files. Instead, it stores the paths of where the audio files were at the time of saving the project. When loading up the project, Reaper then looks for those files from the paths saved into the RPP file.

MIDI files are an exception to this. By default Reaper imports the MIDI files and creates new ones as in-project MIDI items. These are saved into the RPP file itself. This can be changed in Preferences/Media/MIDI if working with separate .MID files is preferred.

As for archiving songs, it's probably most clear approach to save each project into its own folder and have all the project related media inside that. Archives/backups could then be just copies of these project folders.

Save Preferences & Auto Save by Kenny Gioia
http://www.reaper.fm/videos.php#3DJngUQ7MUEEg

Thanks for the info!